Chapter 26
Luke walked up to the nurses station and smiled. “Hey, Barbara, have you seen my kid around here?”
Bobbie shook her head. “No, I’ve been with Jason most of the day, waiting for Carly to get out of surgery, and then I got called away. I was just about to head back to her room. Why would Lucky be here, anyway?’
“He rode over with Liz Webber in the ambulance, so I thought he might still be hanging around. How are her and Caroline doing?”
“Well, from what I’ve heard, Liz is fine. She was only hit in the shoulder, and there wasn’t too much blood loss. They’ll probably release her first thing in the morning. As for Carly, she was hit pretty bad. They had to do an emergency hysterectomy in order to save her life. I really don’t envy whoever has to break that news to her. She really wanted another baby.”
Luke nodded solemnly. He may not have had the best relationship with his niece, but he also had a lot of respect for her. She had spunk, and she wasn’t afraid to fight for what she wanted. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope she’s okay. Um, do you know where Liz’s room is?”
Bobbie looked down at the clipboard in front of her. “Room 632, according to this. Tell her I hope she’s feeling better soon.”
“Will do,” he said, patting her hand before walking down the hall to the patient rooms. He walked slowly, looking at the numbers next to the doors until he came upon 632. Her door was open slightly, so he pushed it and poked his head inside, surprised to see her and his son in an embrace.
“Well, well, well,” he muttered under his breath as he quickly backed out of the room. “Now there’s an interesting turn of events. I think it’s time for a new plan.”
~*~
Liz sniffed and pulled away from Lucky, wiping her face with the sleeve of her hospital gown. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have...”
“It’s okay, forget about it,” Lucky said before she could finish. “You just broke up with someone, you have a right to be upset.”
“I know, but I had no right to cry on you like that. I don’t even...”
“Like me?” he said with a laugh, finishing her sentence.
Liz chuckled. “I guess that’s one way to put it. Anyway, thanks for letting me cry, and not backing away in disgust or anything.”
Lucky shook his head. “It’s no big deal. Besides, I can think of worse things than having a beautiful woman cry on my shoulder.” Did I just say that out loud? he thought. Liz was looking at him like he had two heads, and he realized that, yes, he had definitely said that out loud!
“Um, thanks, I think,” Liz said softly, not sure what to make of his comment. “Wait, I thought you left before to go talk to Charisma? Why are you back?”
“Oh, yeah, I just wanted to tell you that I would take care of Kelly’s for you tomorrow is you wanted. I mean, it’s kind of hard to run a diner with only one good arm, right?” He smiled, hoping to lighten the mood and lift some of the awkwardness that had suddenly fallen between them.
“I guess, but the doctor told me I’d be released first thing in the morning. I’m sure I can handle it. You don’t have to cover for me. Anyway, it’s not like you even work there in the first place, you only live there.”
Lucky shrugged. “I know, but it is my family’s place, so I feel an obligation to it. Plus, I still feel kind of guilty that you were shot because of my concert. Just let me do this, and then we can call it even and go back to hating each other.”
“Well, when you put it that way,” Liz said with a laugh, shaking her head. “Fine, I could probably use the help after all. But don’t think I’m just going to sit back and let you run the place. I’m still going to work. After all, I still have one good arm.” She raised her right hand and laughed.
Figuring he should probably get going, Lucky stood up from the bed and smiled. “Okay, then. I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Right,” she replied, watching as he made his way to the door. “In the morning.”
Lucky got to the door and paused. “Oh, and Elizabeth?”
“Yeah?” she asked, looking up at him.
“I guess I’m glad you’re not dead,” he said with a smirk.
Liz frowned and threw a pillow at him. “Very funny, now get out of here!”
“Ow,” Lucky said, ducking a second too late and getting beaned by the pillow. “For a one-armed girl, you sure can throw!”
“Oh, shut up!” she grumbled as he laughed and left the room. Once the door was closed, she sighed and started to lay down, then groaned. “Great, now my pillow is all the way over there!”
~*~
Sonny closed the door behind him and sighed. Telling Carly the news hadn’t been easy, and she had taken it pretty hard. She cried on his shoulder for a while, then fell asleep, so he decided to get some fresh air.
“Hey,” Jason said, walking back into the waiting room. “Did she wake up yet?’
“Yeah, a little while ago, but she’s asleep again.”
“Well, did you tell her?”
Sonny nodded. “She wasn’t too happy about it, either. At first she was yelling about suing the hospital for doing a surgical procedure without her consent, but after a while, she calmed down and just cried.”
Jason chuckled. “That sounds like Carly all right. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go see her for a minute.”
Sonny shrugged and motioned to the closed door. “Go ahead. I’m going outside for a little bit. This hospital air is starting to get to me.” He clapped Jason on the back as he walked by, then left. Jason took a deep breath, and opened the door to Carly’s room.
At the sound of her door opening, Carly stirred. She opened her eyes to see Jason walking over to the chair next to her bed and sniffed. “Hey.”
“How are you?” he asked, looking at her with concern.
She shrugged, playing absently with the hem of her blanket. “I’ve been better. Did you hear what they did?”
Jason nodded. “Yeah, I was there. Well, not in the operating room, but out there, waiting. I told Sonny when he showed up, I figured he’d want to tell you.”
“Oh,” she said quietly. “You really waited out there?”
“Until Sonny got here. Bobbie and I sat in the waiting room for a while. The doctor would come out and give us updates sometimes, about the surgery. Then she got called away, so I didn’t feel right leaving until Sonny got there.”
“Is Liz okay?” The last thing she remembered was hearing the shots and throwing herself to the ground. She knew Liz had done the same, and wondered if she had been shot, too.
“She’s fine. She was hit in the shoulder, but it wasn’t serious. I just saw her.” He looked down at his lap, and Carly knew something was wrong.
“Jase? What is it? Did something happen between you two?” she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
“She broke up with me,” he said. “I really can’t blame her, I mean, I swore she wouldn’t be in any danger by going out with me, and here she is, laying in a hospital bed after getting shot.”
“It’s not your fault, though. You can’t help it that Moreno doesn’t believe you went legit!”
“It’s okay. She’s better off this way. How about you? You never really answered my question before. How are you, really?”
Carly chuckled bitterly. “You mean aside from feeling like I just had my insides scooped out?”
Jason looked at her strangely. “Are you in pain?”
She shook her head. “No, so far the drugs are working wonders.” She paused, looking down at the blanket again, then back up at him, tears in her eyes. “Jason, what am I supposed to do? I’ll never have another baby now, they took that away from me!”
Jason moved his chair closer to her bed and took her hand. “You still have Michael, though, be thankful for that.”
“Yeah, but I’ve screwed up so much with him already. I wanted another chance, to prove to everyone I could be a good mother for a change,” she said, her voice cracking.
“You are a good mother, Carly. You don’t need to have another baby just to prove that.” He reached over and brushed a tear off her cheek, causing her to smile.
“Thanks, you always know what to say to cheer me up. And thanks for being here. It means a lot to me.”
“I wanted to be here. When I came out of the club, and saw you there....” He stopped, not trusting himself to go on, afraid his voice would give away how strongly he felt.
Carly sniffed and brought her hand up to his cheek. He felt a dampness there, and realized he was crying. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“For being here, for showing me that you still care.”
“Carly, I’ll always care about you, because...”
She nodded, interrupting him. “I know, because I’m Michael’s mother.”
He shook his head. “Not just because of that, but because I love you. Seeing you like that, knowing you could have died, made me realize it.”
Carly’s lip quivered as she looked into his eyes. “Really? You still love me?” He nodded. “Oh, Jason, I love you too!” she said, reaching up to hug him, ignoring the pain in her abdomen.
Jason pulled back slightly and met her eyes. She smiled up at him as he leaned down to place a soft kiss on her lips, both of them totally unaware that they were being watched.
Sonny sighed and backed out of the room, letting the door close softly, then hurried out of the hospital.
